MRVED Update - October 24

Teach Like a Pirate Recap

Dave Burgess presented Teach Like a Pirate to the MRVED on October 17, 2018 in Dawson-Boyd.  Burgess went through the PIRATE acronym and provided educators with practice ideas they can bring back to their classroom.  The afternoon was spent discussing the message from the morning and hearing more creative ideas from Burgess.  You can follow along with a little challenge the elementary schools have going.  Follow #mrvedtlap on Twitter to see what they are doing.  If you have not filled out the evaluation for the day, there is still time to do that.  Select the link below to access the evaluation

October 17, 2018 Evaluation Link

Upcoming Meetings

November 9, 2018  Joint mtg Principals’ Council & TAC

November 16, 2018  Principals’ Council

November 28, 2018  Superintendents’ Council

December 7, 2018 Title III Teachers

December 12, 2018  MRVED Board (6 p.m.)

December 13, 2018 TAC

December 14, 2018 Principals’ Council

December 19, 2018 Superintendents’ Council

MELT Call for Networking Facilitators

The MRVED is looking for facilitators of networking groups  As a facilitator you are not expected to be the expert in the room, but rather move the discussion along.  The goal of a networking group is to share resources and ideas with people who have the same interests.  They are meant to include a "give & take".  Bring something to share and take something away that someone else shared.  The only networking groups that will be offered are those that have a willing facilitator.  If a networking group does not have a facilitator, it will not be held!  If you would like to sign up, please click the link below and add your name to the list next to the group you would like to facilitate.  The networking sign up will close at 3:30 PM on November 15.  If you have any questions or cannot access the form, please contact Brandon (braymo@mrved.net)

MELT NETWORKING FACILITATOR SIGN UP LINK

Halloween Resources

It's always fun to incorporate holidays into your classroom.  With Halloween coming up, here are a few places to find some great Halloween resources to use in your classroom.

PBS Learning Media

TeacherVision

We Are Teachers

Pinterest Ideas

Ditch That Textbook

Matt Miller is on the rise as one of the most influential people in education.  He has written a book, which is on the same token as Teach Like a Pirate (and published by Dave Burgess), Ditch That Textbook.  Along with his book, Matt also writes a blog and speaks.  His blog is full of AWESOME ideas.  Ideas that you can easily pair with "hooks".  Check it out today!

Ditch that Textbook Blog

Teach Like a Pirate - Part II Creating Engaging Lessons

In Part II of teach like a pirate, Burgess introduces us to the concept of the "hooks".  He sets the stage as to why the hooks are one of the most important aspects to a lesson.

He talks about "The Third Circle" that nobody is talking about.  Much of our professional development is focused on gaining content knowledge and learning new classroom techniques, which is true!  Nobody is talking about how we present material.  Presentation, he argues, is just as important as the other two.  There is a small part in this chapter that talks about "everything is a choice".  After reading this section, it made me reflect.  Everything I do within that hour is a choice.  Are the lights on or off?  Is the door open or shut?  Are kids standing, sitting, or moving around?  Do they have paper and pencil?

It made me think about the old adage, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Everything we do within the hour of our lesson has a reaction, whether intended or not.  We simply need to train ourselves to ask the reflective questions when planning a lesson.  I was taught the Madeline Hunter lesson planning format and this simply ramps up the lesson planning.  It really doesn't matter what lesson planning you do, asking yourself reflective questions as you plan will only strengthen what you do.

The other "aha" out of this chapter was the section on transitions.  As a former high school teacher, transitions is not something I have really ever thought that much about.  Burgess is correct, and I have observed it many times, and I have also been guilty of getting to peak engagement in my classroom and then have something kill that engagement.  Getting out a pencil and paper, announcement from the office, turn to page ___ in your book, projector warming up, etc...  Transitions have a HUGE impact on student engagement.

MRVED Update - October 3, 2018

MRVED Business

The MRVED Common Day will be October 17 in Dawson at the high school.  Dave Burgess will be the keynote speaker. Registration closes October 3 at 4pm. The last day to cancel lunch for the day will be October 5, after that you will be held responsible for the price. The day will begin at 8:40 with Dave Burgess speaking until lunch. The afternoon will consist of staff broken into two groups. Group 1 will be with Burgess while Group 2 is in specified rooms discussing content areas. Then Group 2 will be with Burgess while Group 1 is in specified rooms discussing content areas. Everyone will get an agenda when they arrive letting them know where they will be during the day.

On Monday, October 22, everyone will receive an email with a link to an evaluation for the day. Please take the time to fill this out as we use it the information for planning future MRVED Common Days.

Upcoming Meetings

October 17, 2018 Dave Burgess-MRVED Common Day
October 24, 2018 Superintendents’ Council
October 26, 2018 Principals’ Council

November 9, 2018 Joint Principal and TAC
November 16, 2018 Principal's Council
November 28, 2018 Superintendent's Council

2019 MELT Call for Proposals

The MRVED Educators Learning Together (MELT) conference will be held at Lac qui Parle Valley High School on January 21, 2019.  To help make this conference the best ever, we need your help.  The MRVED is looking for enthusiastic people willing to present on something great happening in your classroom.  This can be anything from Google Drive to differentiation techniques in your classroom.  Show us how you Teach Like a Pirate!  Technology or no technology proposals are welcome.  Presenters will be paid a small stipend for your work.  You may submit as many presentation proposals as you wish.

**We are actively seeking any Pre-K people that would like to present, as well as anyone that Teaches Like a Pirate!**

**By filling out this form you are not committing to presenting, just providing the MRVED with your name and topic.**


Link to Proposal Form

Tech Tip of the Week - Flippity

Flippity is a great tool to use in the classroom.  If you can get over having to use a Google Sheet, this tool can transform how you do things in your classroom.  You can easily turn spreadsheets into flashcards, quiz shows, crosswords, etc...  There are so many different things you can do within Flippity.  You really need to experience it to see the power it has.

If We Don't Allow A Redo, What Are We Teaching?

Rick Wormeli tweeted this article out the other day on redos.  It is well worth the read.  It is an account from an English teacher on why he allows redos.  There are some really good points in here.  Take the time to read this article today, especially if you are on the fence about allowing kids to redo assignments.

If We Don't All A Redo, What Are We Teaching? by Gary Armida

Teach Like a Pirate - Ask & Analyze, Transformation, Enthusiasm

For those of you on Twitter, there is a great Teach Like a Pirate conversation that happens all day long!  Follow #TLAP.

Ask and Analyze
Burgess talks about the ability to think creatively in this chapter.  In a hilarious anecdotal example, he talks about how "creative people" simply walk around and are smacked with creative ideas out of the blue.  Being creative is not something that you are born with, it's something you can become better at.  Carol Dweck - growth mindset vs fixed mindset!  Being creative is all about what questions you ask yourself as well as the ability to change.  The bottom of page 34 and top of page 35 offer an awesome way to ask yourself questions that can guide you to be creative.  Once you find that creative change, you must then have the ability to change your lesson.

Transformation
"Safe lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best" (Burgess, 48).  I love this quote!  It is so true...we need to be able to take risks in our lessons.  Burgess talks about the 1000's of lessons that have been disasters.  It goes back to the Ask and Analyze chapter though.  When we fail we need to ask ourselves questions about the failure, analyze what we did, and then make adjustments.  We shouldn't continue to teach the bad lesson again and we shouldn't settle for mediocrity as well.  Our kids don't deserve mediocrity - they deserve our best!

Creating engaging lessons is also in the chapter on transformation.  I wanted to share a few quotes that hit home with me.

"If you can't explain why someone should pay attention to what you're saying, maybe we shouldn't be saying it." (Burgess, 62)

"History isn't boring, their history class was" (Burgess, 62)  I think of the phrase that I heard in my classroom, "this is boring".  What the student really meant, and I wish he/she would have said it, was "YOU are boring".  Burgess is right, your content area is not boring, it's the delivery that is boring.

Enthusiasm

Bottom line - you need to be enthusiastic about what you are teaching.  If you are not enthusiastic, then you need to fake being excited.  This is a big part to this book, so I'm not going to beat it to death here.  You really are an entertainer in your classroom.  You need to have enthusiasm for what you do, or the kids won't want to be there.

I'm going to leave these two thought provoking questions from the transformation chapter for you to think about:

If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching in an empty room?

Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?